Malta's national dance company ŻfinMalta is making its UK debut this month. Martina Zammit takes you with the dancers on the journey.

Yoga class is a great preparation for the week and we're so thankful that Claire Cunningham let us join her class at The Place. Raymond's open class at Dance Works is a stabilising, as always, and a somewhat steamy start to the afternoon as the studio turned into a sauna halfway through class.

'Knowing that there is support is extremely encouraging.' Photo: Niels Plotard

It's refreshing to share class space with people other than company members. The following day brings another ballet class with Raymond and Elaine and I snatch the opportunity to watch The Book of Mormon.

Not knowing what to expect, I walk out of Prince of Wales theatre blown away and holding my sides with giggles as the musical turns out to be brilliant, rude, hilarious, blasphemous, insane, absurd, ironic and so in-your-face that my face hurts from the smile I had plastered to my face throughout.

Wednesday is the day we finally get down to business and Danae, Jure and I start the day with a super intense yoga session with Emily Lacy from Jivamukti at Sangye Yoga. I am truly appreciative of the sudden release I feel at the end of this session as I sweat and cry out the tension I wasn't even aware of that had been building up to this point.

We find ourselves in Sadler’s Wells Lillian Baylis Studio in the afternoon after a stunning ballet class with Raymond. The space is gorgeous although the audience is a little closer than expected. The management and staff of the theatre are amazing! I have never had the opportunity of meeting people who pay so much attention to detail and who are really invested in the performing experience with you.

Imagine having your costumes washed and dried in between a dress run and performance! Imagine working with a smile and wishing you luck and best wishes constantly. On top of this, we are over the moon to find out that after our plotting slot, we get to watch Pina Bausch's dress run of Masurca Fogo at Sadler’s. We sit there all dreamy-eyed and watch the dancers have a blast on stage as they find themselves in absurd situations typical of Pina Bausch's works. The piece is somewhat light and accompanied by gorgeous music. We go back to the hotel pretty much overwhelmed and inspired ready for our performance the next day.

The piece is somewhat light and accompanied by gorgeous music. We go back to the hotel pretty much overwhelmed and inspired ready for our performance the next day.

After a ballet class with Mavin the next morning we prepare ourselves for a dress run of the double bill, which goes smoothly, followed by a ballet warm up given by Raymond, originally meant for Mavin but which most company dancers join in for too. We feel the tension building as the performance draws near and this is reflected in the number of times I go out into the freezing cold to smoke. So much for warm-up.

This is the first time that the double bill is performed with Home as an introduction so this is somewhat more nerve-racking than usual. In this performance I am frustrated as I cannot seem to loosen up and relax on stage (this is the state I perform best in) and seem to be at my lowest energy levels ever since the beginning of the tour.

However the performance is what it is and it's great to get feedback from people afterwards - so glad to hear feedback a little more constructive than 'prosit'. I love to hear different people's opinions on the works and never tire of appreciating the diversity of these opinions. I love how different audience members approach the works with their own backgrounds. Each introspective look adds a new layer on my own approach to the works.

The scene is set for the next day and I approach the schedule with a more clever distribution of energy so that I feel stable and much more relaxed in the next performance. I am very thrown aback by an unexpected standing ovation on both nights. Knowing that there is that kind of support out there is extremely encouraging. The journey is over, we all go back to our hotel that night with a feeling of accomplishment and stars in our eyes - and a hunger that can only be satisfied by delivery pizza and the company of each other in hotel room 405.

Knowing that there is that kind of support out there is extremely encouraging. The journey is over, we all go back to our hotel that night with a feeling of accomplishment and stars in our eyes - and a hunger that can only be satisfied by delivery pizza and the company of each other in hotel room 405.

It's done.

This is the third and final blog post about Żfin Malta's UK tour. Read part 1 and part 2.